Love is painful  War is destructive
by RisingSunshine
Summary: A few years after the First World War: Their relationship is tensed but England and Germany are getting closer to each other. Until war comes again. The Second World War is about to start and now Ludwig and Arthur have to make a decision...
1. Chapter 1

How could this happen?

They never imagined that they could end up like this.

They're facing each other. Each of them holding a gun in his trembling hands. The time seems to stop as if it would hold it's breath. Those two looking at each other with uncertainness, sadness but mostly despair. Far, far away from their location you can hear gun fire, shouting and screaming people and when the wind slightly blows in their direction you can sense the smell of metal and also blood.

This situation is the worst a person can be in on. Especially if you have to face someone who's precious to you. Those two got along with each other quite well the last few years. They respect each other, like each other and maybe there is even more.

But in this short moment everything is gone and the only thing that's left is despair.

It's war, they belong two different sides and they both know that they have to make a decision - right now. But the one and only question which is bothering these guys is:

"Does it really have to end like this?"

* * *

><p>That's the Prologue of my new story. It's sometimes based on historical facts but I wouldn't say that it's historical accurate... but anyway ~ I hope you'll like it.<p>

This story is a christmas present for my best friend MelodyofStarshine :D I hope you still like the story (I know you read the first chapter already before the upload XD)

It's a bit late for christmas presents, I know, but I wasn't able to upload it until now.

Also sorry for every mistake in this text. I'm German but I try my best to make not to many mistakes :D

(Ps: for the readers of my other story... I'm sorry but I got some translation problems in some parts of the next chapter (Russian :) ) that's why it takes so long until I'm able to upload the next chapter...)


	2. Chapter 2

"Brother, come on, stand up! At least you need to eat something."

"I don't mind! Just leave me alone", he grumbled through his pillow.

"Fine." He turned around and said in a bitter voice: "Sweet dreams."

"Wait, may I ask you a favour?"

"What do you want?", he asked although he already knew the answer.

"Stupid question! I want beer!" Ludwig sighed. _A wonderful wednesday morning._

His brother was always crazy and annoying but now... Since Gilbert's country disappeared from the map and he nearly died, Gilbert just lay in his bed and did nothing else than sleeping, sometimes eating and of course drinking. Ludwig found it kind of sad, because although his silver-haired brother was annoying, Ludwig loved him and in a strange way he looked up to him.

The tall blond-haired man opened the fridge, took a bottle of beer and returned to his brother's bedroom. The german opened the door as quietly as possible and entered the dark room.

"Here you go", he said and set the bottle on the little wooden desk next to the bed. Then Ludwig looked Gilbert in his sleepy red eyes. "Hey, I need to go to a meeting. You'll be alright?"

As an answer the Prussian nodded while he sipped at his cooled delicious beer.

"Alright!" Ludwig left the room once again and put on his uniform, black boots, tuned his hair up and at last put on his cap. Then he stepped out of the house, leaving his big brother behind in the dark.

Ludwig took a deep breath before he entered the big hall with one huge table in it's centre and lots of chairs around it. There were already two people picking on each other. While the blue eyed guy walked to his chair, he concentrated on the old well-known table made out of some dark wood. Then he took place and organized his thoughts.

He was the one who was responsible for himself as a person but also for himself as a whole country. Ludwig represented his nation every time he participated in such meetings like today.

Germany was not the biggest country but once upon a time it was one of the most powerful countries of Europe. Until war came. The First World War was the biggest mistake Germany could have made. He thought, it was his fault because he did nothing to stop it even though his superiors left him no choice.

Now Germany was a shade of it's former self. They lived in a democracy, more or less, but the people didn't feel so proud and strong like they felt about twenty years ago. Ludwig could feel all this weakness but also anger (and sometimes at least a little bit of happiness). It was a poor thing.

Ludwig came back to his senses and stared at the other two guys who were still picking at each other. The first one was a guy called Francis Bonnefoy or to shorten it: He was France. A man with blue eyes, long, blond hair and some stubbles in his face. Francis was hard to describe with only one word or even more words. He wanted to fulfil his desires and was interested in both: men and women.

Ludwig didn't like this guy, because he represented nearly everything he hated. They also had a lot of differences in the past which were mostly solved by battles. The last battle they fought (except the First World War – but even this ended with a big loss on the part of France) was about seventy years ago and ended also with France's loss. So they had still a really tough relationship.

Then the german man focused on the other one. His name was Arthur but he was also known as England. He was also a blond-haired man but his eyes were green and his most distinctive attribute were his big, fat eyebrows. The German knew no other person with such huge eyebrows... but somehow it fit this english man. Arthur liked to wear uniforms, one characteristic those two had in common but they both knew that there was more...

Their relationship was quite complicated and often belonged to the situation they were in, but in a certain way they were related to each other.

The time back then, when the countries were lead by kings, queens or emperors, England and Germany were related by blood. Their monarchs stem from the same family.

Although this relationship existed, they didn't consider this – in political issues. Because of this their relationship was sometimes a bit tensed. For example when the german emperor started to build a fleet in the centre of europe and tried to keep up with England and of course in the First World War.

But still this connection existed. Although they tried to ignore it, someday it would break out like an explosion because of one little accident.

While the blond-haired man thought about Arthur, the door opened quickly.

"Hey! The Hero arrived on the scene!"

Ludwig's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Alfred F. Jones's shouting voice and the slamming door.

"Finally", whispered Francis and Arthur at once. Every time this happened they glared at each other for a while and then ignored each other or started picking again (today they tried to ignore each other). It was creepy!

Now the german guy payed his attention to Alfred. He was also called America and to be honest the silliest person , he ever met. He had brown, shortened hair, blue eyes and wore glasses. He also often wore a brown jacket made out of leather and with an eagle on its' back. Another thing he loved, was to eat Fast Food. It was a miracle that he didn't die already. But the most unbelievable fact about Alfred was that he grew up as Arthur's child until he wanted to be independent of his adoptive father and became the way he was now.

Germany couldn't understand how such a person was able to represent a country... but, it didn't matter now.

It seemed that Alfred didn't hear what Francis and Arthur had just said. He took place and the meeting started.

"That's all for today, I think. Let's defer this to friday. See you!" The four-eyes disappeared and the rest followed. Ludwig was the last one who left the room, closed the door and returned home... After 30 minutes, he got out of his car, walked along the path to his house and opened the door.

"Gil, I'm back!" ,Ludwig shouted while he removed his cap, his boots and his uniform, then put a grey shirt and some trousers on. The blond-haired man sat in his old red armchair, closed his eyes and remembered the meeting: Sometimes the German just wanted to miss these boring meetings.

"Always the same...", he whispered to himself.

"What is '_always the same'_?" Ludwig opened his eyes and beheld Gilbert's vermilion eyes. "You look like you saw a ghost, lil' brother", he grinned. Ludwig sighed.

"Not quite. I saw you!"

Gilbert giggled. "Funny, brother, quiet funny." He went to the kitchen, opened the white fridge and took another beer.

"How many bottles did you drink already?"

"This one included?" The Prussian raised the bottle and smiled. But Ludwig just glanced at him angrily.

"Of course not. If you had already drunk enough, I would bring this one back or drink it myself."

"Come on and try", he answered in a provocative way. His younger brother rolled his eyes, took the bottle away from Gilbert and sat down again.

"Okay, okay... let me remember those past four hours... three, I think." He grinned and screwed up one eye.

"You're able to think about this?"

"Ha..ha..ha. …Ludi, what's wrong? Normally you aren't kidding and you never tell such stupid jokes, so... What's the matter? Tell your older and freakin' awesome brother!" He returned to the kitchen, took another bottle out of it and sat down next to Ludwig.

"It's nothing. Those meetings are just always boring. They never talk about anything new. Always: '_How is the situation in Germany? Are you still paying your war reparations? What do the people think about the Treaty of Versailles? Do you still stick by the treaty?...' _I'm bored.

The silver-haired man tapped him on the shoulder: "That's why I always tried to avoid these meetings... but now... that's no longer necessary, right? Prussia doesn't exist anymore..."

"Don't hang your head. You're still Gilbert, my stupid, stubborn and awesome brother."

"Did you say stupid and stubborn?"

"... okay my '_freakin' awesome' _brother. There's no need for you to stay in this house and do nothing else than sleeping, eating and drinking. Don't let it get you down. Show them that you don't care."

"Maybe you're right... . Anyway when is the next meeting?"

Ludwig closed his eyes. He was tired and only wanted to lay in his warm, comfortable bed.

"Friday and this time in Arthur's house."

"Oh, our brother-in-arms!"

"He's not our brother-in-arms."

"But, what is he?"

"I don't know."

"Anyway. I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

"Me too. Good night." Ludwig stood up and went to his bedroom.

Friday he would go to visit Arthur and the remaining Allies.

_Another boring day... or maybe not..._


	3. Chapter 3

"As I said, you don't have to participate in this meeting."

"Of course, I have to. It's my duty!"

"Then get out of this car. We're here for 20 minutes and I want to watch 'Supernatural' it's starting soon, so, hurry up!"

"Lately you're really addicted to this series, aren't you?"

"As if that was possible. I just watched the whole fourth season yesterday. Does this automatically mean I'm addicted!"

"I think it does."

"Tch! Anyway, get out! Otherwise I'll have to use exorcism to torture you."

"Fine... See you later." Ludwig left the car and waited until his brother disappeared. Then he turned around and went upstairs. Now he stood right in front of the door, raised his hand hesitating.

_I don't want to enter this house. This meeting will be different, definitely._

Germany always felt a bit uncomfortable when such official conferences became more private. He thought it was strange to talk about reparations or contracts while you were sitting in someone's living-room drinking tea and eating cake.

_I hope Arthur bought one, otherwise... Anyway._ It didn't fit.

On the one hand he could just miss this meeting. It would be the first time... Just once... But on the other hand... It was his obligation to participate! He would never try to neglect his duties, of course!

Ludwig raised his hand once again but when he wanted to ring the bell, someone grabbed him from behind.

"Moron, what are you doing?" The German sighed. _Seems the "hero" arrived..._

"I could ask you the same thing." Alfred ignored Ludwig's comment, reached the door knocker and hit it three times against the door.

Ludwig felt like hours had passed until Arthur finally opened it.

"Hey, Artie, I'm here! Let's get the party started!"

"Welcome, Alfred. First, this is a conference so please stop talking about parties." Alfred pouted but quickly showed his well-known, dopey grin. "Second, I think you know this house very well, since you played here when you were a little likeable child, so please come in."

"Alright! We'll save the world!"

"Sure..." Arthur sighed till he saw Ludwig who stood right behind the four-eyes.

"Oh... Sorry about that. Hello, Ludwig."

"Hello, Arthur..." You could almost feel the tensed atmosphere between them. But Germany didn't know what to say. He was really bad at small-talk.

"You've never been here before, right?"

"That's right."

"Shall I show you around my house until we start the meeting?"

"I don't want to bother you..."

The Briton smiled. "No, it's fine, come on." The German entered the simply but still appealing hall. Arthur closed the door to start his guide.

"This house is quite an old one... It was built a few centuries ago. That's why the entry hall isn't really pretensions. Follow me." They walked along a long corridor that was filled with lights which looked like little flames and lots of different pictures, mostly portraits. It seemed like the lights were framing the images.

"Don't worry they're not real. Little Alfred thought it would look to old-fashioned if I'd chosen real flaming torches, so I chose lamps that looked similar. It would have been also quite dangerous if you think of Alfred as a child playing with fire... Sooner or later we would have to move house."

"Definitely but good to know... Who are all these people?"

"Previous kings and queens."

"Impressive. You got a quite long story, don't you?"

"More than five centuries. Yes, it has been a long time."

"My story is... if you can call it a story, it would be only a short-story. About 40 years."

"But it was definitely a memorable time", said Arthur sarcastically. Ludwig smiled but despite that sighed once again. "Yes, a _"memorable" _time…" Arthur's smile disappeared.

"I.. I.. am sorry. I didn't want to bring this horrible incident up again."

"No, no, I'm fine... But please let's forget that topic and continue our tour."

Arthur harrumphed and went on when they entered the kitchen.

"On the left side is the kitchen. It seems to be old but the equipment is really modern. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to cook so many different meals."

"So it's true that you make _everything_ by yourself."

"Of course. I also wanted to make something for today..."

"And did you?"

"No. I hadn't enough time to prepare anything. But I might be able to arrange something for the next conversation."

"Great..." Germany thought that it was nice that Arthur strived to cook something for them but his food was so disgusting... and sometimes even radioactive. He could abstain from this kind of food.

"Anyway, next to the kitchen is the dining room. But we shouldn't enter it now because they're doing some repairs." Both men left the kitchen and stopped in front of a giant wooden door.

"Opposite to the kitchen is the living room. Alfred and Francis are in there but we're first going to finish our tour until we accompany them..."

"If they don't kill each other it's fine." "I think they won't."

"Then let's continue."

"That's fine by me. So at the end of this corridor you find the bathroom behind the stairs and those stairs lead to the basement. But now we're going upstairs."

"What's there?"

"There you can find, except another bathroom, Alfred's nursery, two guest rooms, my bedroom, of course, and one of my favourite places in this whole house."

The corridor upstairs looked like the one downstairs, except the pictures. Instead of previous kings and queens there were merely pictures of different places in England. They were ordered the way that you could see how these locations have changed over the years. Starting with paintings black-and-white shots and at least one coloured photo. Pictures of these places under construction and after they were finished.

Ludwig knew even a few like the Palace of Westminster, the Tower Bridge or Buckingham Palace. But there were also lots of buildings he had never seen before.

"Excuse me, but what is this?"

"You don't know? That's the Tower of London."

"And this?"

"The Canterbury Cathedral. Strange that you don't know these sights. Have you ever participated in a sightseeing tour or have you ever at least read up on England's history?"

"No. Every time I visit England I'm here because of political issues. I never get enough time to do something like that."

"You should take your time to get to know England. I think you'll like it."

"Maybe but then you should learn more about my country, too. I think you know as much about Germany as I know about England."

"Sorry, but I believe you're wrong."

"Fine, then tell me something about Germany."

"Okay, let's see... Germany's capital is Berlin. Its most famous sight is the Brandenburger Tor.

I also know a interesting and wonderful castle called Neuschwanstein.

Then we got the city Bonn where Ludwig van Beethoven was born. Maybe you were named after him..."

"I don't think so. Gilbert is not the musical type."

"Anyway, another really old city is Cologne whose well-known emblems are the Kölner Dom which exists for more than three centuries and of course its beer called Kölsch. Actually Germany seems to be well-known for its different beer varieties. I think you got at least ten different sorts... Then there is also a festival called Karneval which is a little bit like Halloween but it seems to be still different. Lots of people living in Cologne say that you have to experience it. I really want to know how it is like... Shall I continue?"

"No. I think that's enough..."

Ludwig felt beaten. Arthur mentioned even things which he didn't know... That was just embarrassing. England knew more about Germany than he did. He would, of course, never admit that. But maybe he should at least learn more about England as Arthur said...For now he tried to ignore the fact that Arthur knew all these details and tried to switch to another topic.

"Could we soon finish our trip, please? I'm not quite sure if those two will wait any longer."

"You might be right..." They entered the room at the end of the floor. The German couldn't help it but he stared at the lines filled with nothing but books.

"Impressing, right?"

"Definitely! That's amazing!" This room was bigger than any library and had surely more books than any library. But there weren't only books. There was also a fireplace and in front of it four armchairs and two little tables. Next to the fireside in a shelf was a book that seemed to be at the wrong place. Ludwig didn't think of it but it looked like one of those books which let a hidden door appear. _Stupid nonsense. But still..._

"Arthur, what is this strange green old book about, the one that sticks out of the line?"

"Er...er... mmh... I don't know, but it isn't an important book. I just bought it because the cover was so interesting... Don't mind it."

"...Okay... It just looks like you recently used it."

"...Probably... but I... cannot remember... Oh, I think we should go back. We're late. Let's go. We'll take a shortcut." Arthur went to the right. You could see a spiral staircase leading downstairs. England took these stairs while Germany slowly followed him.

"Where do these stairs end?"

"You'll see. Just wait a moment." Downstairs were even more books. Ludwig guessed that Arthur must own about at least 100.000 books.

"What a surprise! You got a personal library on both levels. Impressive!"

"Thanks. But now we should really enter the living-room."

"And how? I can't see any door."

"Not yet." Arthur stepped to a wall and placed his hand on it. Suddenly a part of the wall seemed to move. After a few seconds a door appeared. Ludwig gasped.

"Don't stare at me like I was crazy! I also found this secret entry a few weeks ago. Useful isn't it?" Arthur opened the door and went into another room.

"Yes... Useful..." The German followed the Briton and found himself in the living-room. It must have been the living-room because Alfred and Francis were sitting there starring at them.  
>"Oh, mon Dieu!"<p>

"What the hell is that, Artie?"

"Nothing. Just ignore what just happened. I won't scare you again."

"I wasn't scared! Just wanted to know if I could use this secret entry sometimes?"

"For which purpose?"

"You don't need to know", said Alfred grinning. Before England could respond to that Francis clasped his arms around him so that he was barely able to breath.

"Don't shock me like that again, mon cher. I nearly died!" Arthur fidgeted until he broke free.

"Might be better... As if I'd care what you want! Don't dare to touch me again, pervert!"

"What did you say, you tea slurping idiot?"

"Tea slurping idiot? You're the one to talk you wine swigging perverted alien!" Just now they came to blows again. Every conference which didn't contain any fight between the two of them was like a miracle that wasn't supposed to happen today.

Germany tried as always to stop their little battle. In this situation he thought that war between them had never ended.

"STOP IT! WE HAVE A MEETING! SO END THIS OR I WILL PARTICIPATE!" Both stopped immediately and didn't make any noise.

"That's a shame! I just filmed this play and you got nothing to do but to destroy everything. Boooooooring." Ludwig turned around angrily.

"Did you say something?"

"Forget it. Don't worry, Tony, we'll get our material." _When did this THING show up? He wasn't with Alfred when they first entered this house, was he? …Creepy red eyed alien..._ Tony stared at Ludwig. _Is he able to read my thoughts? _Tony nodded. The German swallowed hard and sat down. …_Help... _

But they were at least able to start the meeting and Ludwig tried to ignore Tony who was still starring at him as good as possible.

_Another boring meeting, another wasted hour..._

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><p><em>So another chapter of my story... because of school and all that horrible stuff I totally forgot to upload it... to be honest it was already finished more than two months ago... I'm soooo sorry! ;( I could bang my head on a wall for forgetting it... but it might become even worse...<em>

_Anyway have fun reading the chapter. Hope you'll like it :D_


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